Give Up Your Green If You Want To Be Seen

Over the past 8 years I’ve experimented with sharing mental health ideas online.

Somewhere along the way that experiment turned into nearly 1,000 YouTube videos and thousands of posts across Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn. When you create that much content, you begin to notice something about the professional landscape online.

There is now an entire ecosystem built around selling credibility. In other words, paying major green means being major seen.

Professionals regularly receive invitations for:

• “Top Professional” awards

• “Influential Leader” features

• Magazine covers

• “Industry recognition” lists

• Promoted Posts

Often these opportunities come with a participation fee attached. Even professional platforms themselves have adopted subscription models designed to increase visibility and networking reach. For example, premium tiers on LinkedIn can cost around $80 per month, offering expanded messaging access and algorithm advantages.

None of this is necessarily unethical. Marketing has always existed. Professionals have always paid for advertising, sponsorships, and exposure. What’s changed is how credibility signals are packaged. Instead of traditional advertising, we now see prestige branding being sold directly to professionals who are trying to grow their practices and build authority.

For therapists running their own private practices, this creates an interesting tension.

On one hand, we’re clinicians trained to focus on helping people. On the other hand, running a practice requires navigating marketing, visibility, and professional branding.

Which raises a simple question.

Where does credibility actually come from?

In mental health work, credibility has historically been built through things like:

• Consistency over time

• Client trust

• Clinical competence

• Professional reputation among peers

• Ethical practice

These markers are slow, quiet, and often invisible to the outside world. Worse yet, for the small business owner, it don’t come with paid advertising, plaques or magazine covers. Competence doesn't necessarily equate to being seen. And for the person seeking a professional - visibility, branding, and recognition will get their business...even if it leads to incompetent counselors getting their business instead of the small business owner (looking at you Betterhelp, Headway, any third party referral company that pays major green to be major seen).

Makes you wonder: How will the private practice compete?

After many years of creating an online presence, I can tell you that - from my experience - it hasn't helped with business. It has helped me keep my sanity, though. But sanity aside, I'm genuinely curious; what's your take on this? I appreciate the time you spent reading and until next time, awareness UP.

—Jed Thorpe, CMHC

Meaning To Live Counseling